Trial may begin next year for ex-CPV executive in bribery case

Defense attorneys are asking for a Jan. 8, 2018, trial date for a former Competitive Power Ventures executive accused by federal prosecutors of paying bribes to a former top aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Former CPV Senior Vice President Peter Galbraith Kelly Jr. is accused of conspiring to pay about $287,000 in bribes to Joseph Percoco, a former executive deputy secretary to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, by hiring Percoco's wife for a low-show job at the company.

In exchange, prosecutors say, Percoco agreed to secure a valuable environmental contract for a CPV power plant in New Jersey and obtain an agreement from New York to buy a guaranteed amount of power from its $900 million power plant being built in Wawayanda.

Percoco's efforts to secure the purchasing guarantee for the Wawayanda plant were not successful, prosecutors say.

Percoco is charged with extortion, bribe solicitation, honest services fraud conspiracy and extortion conspiracy as part of the energy company allegations. He also faces charges as part of another scheme.

Both men have pleaded not guilty.

The charges are part of a wide-ranging criminal case that prosecutors say involve eight defendants, more than 11 million pages of discovery and several overlapping schemes that stretch up to Buffalo.

The defense request for a trial date comes after prosecutors said in late June that they're willing to split up the complicated graft case into two trials "in the interest of facilitating trial preparation, and preventing any risk of logistical difficulties or juror confusion at trial."

Prosecutors said they would consent to split the so-called "Buffalo Billion" fraud and bribery schemes from alleged schemes involving Percoco and Kelly.

The government said Percoco, Kelly, Steven Aiello and Joseph Gerardi could be tried in one case.

Gerardi and Aiello, sometimes referred to in court papers as the "Syracuse developers," are accused of paying bribes to Percoco and honest services fraud conspiracy, as well as a charges involving the alleged "Buffalo Billion" scheme.

Four other defendants, as well as Aiello and Gerardi, would have a separate trial involving other alleged criminal schemes.

On Friday, defense attorneys for Kelly and Percoco asked federal Judge Valerie Caproni to hold the trial for their clients on Jan. 8 in order to provide enough time to prepare.

Kelly's attorney has also moved to have his case severed from the Syracuse scheme, though prosecutors have not consented to that. Caproni's approval would be required.

Kelly's and Percoco's attorneys have also asked prosecutors to disclose a witness and exhibit list, as well as statements and reports of witnesses, 90 days before trial.